Leeds United probed patiently for 43 minutes, back and forth from side to side until Salford City’s shape gave way: Jamie Shackleton to Helder Costa and Costa with a low cut-back across the box where Eddie Nketiah faded to the left of Salford defender Nathan Pond and rammed the ball into the net.

Nketiah smiled and gestured to the stand behind the goal with a finger to his lips, the first crowd he has silenced in Leeds colours but surely not the last. His finishing, his confidence — both of which were there on his debut in the League Cup on Tuesday — were what clubs were queuing up for throughout the transfer window and The Athletic can reveal the extraordinary Dragons Den-style process that culminated in Leeds winning the fight to sign Nketiah on loan from Arsenal last week.

Arsenal’s painstaking method of choosing the 20-year-old’s destination, involving long presentations by senior figures from the teams in the running to take him, reveals the...